It seem that you can bake the textures which is great, have render to texture?
really it's to think about a switch regarding Gmax.
GMAX has limitations (to which none that I have encountered as I am only a GMAX beginner but no longer supported by creator is a limitation) whereas Blender is getting very advanced with much more on-board support features than were in previous versions. With the CYCLES render engine and Blender Game, it adds more features to it. You can do just about anything with Blender that you can do with Maya, 3DS, Houdini and similar programs, albeit not as advanced. Had GMAX still been supported and expanded by the author, it would probably out rate blender.
Python script support for blender greatly expands the abilities of blender beyond what is by default. Dreamworks and Pixar both require Python for its CGI developers according to their job requirements because of python support in the programs they use. They use their own custom build versions of 3DS and Maya, etc. You cannot purchase the versions they have unfortunately, although the versions they do have hold the same functions as production releases just with more 'automatic' operation and custom plugins and other operations designed for use with their render-farms and for efficiency such as the ability for multiple creators to modify in a shared environment.
Due to the key-mapping, GMAX for me is almost impossible to get the hang of because of blender key-mapping and Maya usage in the past conflicting. My fingers just have a natural habit of using their maps. The thing I liked about blender years ago was the ability to use a maya interface in it which helped me because I already knew maya 6 basics and intermediate levels of use. I have since grown outside of that and are now used to the default blender setup. My only complaint is having to activate specific functions in the settings then restart blender in some instances when I want to use them, unlike other programs where they are ready to be called at all times.
Blender is a great program to learn and use. I cant think of any mainstream movies that used blender to make, but it has the ability to do it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRsGyueVLvQ
I have no intention or desire to degrade or downplay one programs ability over another. I speak from my perspective and experience. The program one chooses depends on what you wish to accomplish and your ability to learn the program. I tried 5 different programs before I settled on blender (maya license was my buddies and he moved to washington in 05 so I had to find a new program) It had the functionality I wanted, and it was fairly easy for me to learn due to my usage of Maya.
If you are going to use blender for FS you really wont need any other render engines. But since I also am working on a movie I need additional render engines because Blender tends to become unstable in large renders. I have just downloaded Yafaray and will use it. If anyone knows another good, cost efficient render that works seamlessly with blender, please let me know.
Oh, btw, there is a good tutorial to learn about the animation and environmental aspect that uses the DISNEY movie intro. I recommend it to new blender users. It uses blender 2.57 if I recall. Since its free, you can download the 2.57 zip archive and use it just for the tutorial. Then you can install 2.66 and know some basics. The interface and layout has changed a bit from 2.5 to 2.6. Some functions were renamed and others were removed (such as the mesh reduction script from 2.47). Now its a poly reduction modifier instead of a mesh reduction script call.
My apologies to you all. I am taking this way off topic.
Oh and one more thing, you can do ambient occlusion with blender.
http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-233/ambient-occlusion/
(and export your models as .DAE)
